The Mississippi Department of Education officially released the statewide accountability scores for 2017 Thursday, which assign each school and district across the state a letter grade.

The Vicksburg Warren School District held steady and was given an overall grade of a D for the second straight year under the new testing system that was implemented in 2016.

The district saw its overall score improve from a 499 in 2016 to a 502 in 2017. Under the new cut scores approved by MDE in August, 523 points are needed to receive a C.

“This is the best we’ve done in years,” VWSD superintendent Chad Shealy said. “The frustration from our end is if we had kept the cut score from two years ago, we would have been a C. To know there are districts out there who not only got to keep their cut score from two years ago, but have it lowered twice, I don’t know why they are more special than us and it bothers me. I think there has been some intentional purpose in that.”

Overall, all 14 VWSD schools either held steady with their letter grade from 2016 or saw improvements. South Park Elementary, Sherman Avenue Elementary, Redwood Elementary, Warren Central Intermediate and Warren Central High School all saw their score improve by a letter grade from 2016 to 2017.

“We have the highest total points we’ve ever had under this accountability model,” Shealy said. “In addition to that, we have the highest graduation rate we’ve had since 2009. Two years ago, we had one B school. Today, we’ve got five. Of the 14 schools, nine of them received the incentive that has been established in the legislator meaning you either have to move a grade level or be a B or A rated. We have seen some great positives.”

Warren Central High saw its score improve from a 522 in 2016 to a 586 in 2017, the biggest increase for any school in the district, as the school letter grade improved from a D to a C.

Vicksburg High saw its score drop from a 485 to a 472, holding steady as a D and narrowly missing the cutoff for an F, which was set at 470. When ranked across the state, Vicksburg High ranked as the fifth worst high school in the state of Mississippi.

The only high schools ranked below Vicksburg, all of which received an F, were Forest Hill and Wingfield high schools in Jackson, Coldwater Attendance Center in Tate County and Coahoma County Jr/Sr High School.

“Our fixing is tied directly to the academic performance focus that Angela Johnson is bringing,” Shealy. “She has probably the most intensive instructional plan that was presented. It has all types of measures in it. The teachers themselves have report cards. She is keeping everybody focused on achievement.”

The lowest rated school in VWSD was Vicksburg Junior High, the only school in the district to earn an F rating this year, although the school saw a two-point improvement in its score.

“We have new administrators,” Shealy said. “That in and of itself is a tremendous change. The instructional focus is much different now in that. We’ve made sure that the mathematics, there are some double dipping approaches there.”

Warren Central Junior High remained a D, missing the F cutoff by 10 points after seeing its score drop by 25 points from 2016 to 2017.

Redwood saw the biggest improvement of any elementary school, improving by 59 points and earning a B rating after earning a C in 2016.

“When you start looking at what Redwood has done, those teachers are really focusing on student learning,” Shealy said.

South Park Elementary saw a 49-point increase in its accountability score, improving from an F to a D. Sherman Avenue improved 57 points in the metrics and saw it’s rating improve from a D to a C.

Warren Central Intermediate also saw its score improve earning an additional 22 points to improve from a D to a C.

Warrenton Elementary held steady as a B for the second straight after earning a D in 2015 and saw its score improve 11 points.

“We have begun to use a product, full district this year, that a few schools used last year, which is called i-Ready,” Shealy said. “It is kind of a diagnostic assessment tool and it gives the opportunity for kids on specific standards to see where they are in mastery. It creates a recommended instructional plan that the teachers can then implement for those kids. It is kind of a my size fits me approach.”

Bovina, Beechwood and Bowmar all maintained their B ratings despite seeing a decrease in their scores from 2016 to 2017. Beechwood saw the biggest decrease of any VWSD school, falling 43 points. Under the former cut scores that were used last year and were adjusted by MDE in August, Bowmar and Beechwood would have both received a C this year.

MDE assigned each school in the state a letter grade using the 2016 and 2017 cut scores and each school was officially assigned the higher of the two grades. Warren Central and Vicksburg high schools were the only VWSD schools to be assigned their grade based on the old cut scores. WCHS received a C using the 2016 cutoffs and a D under the 2017 cuts, while VHS would have a received an F using the new cut scores, but received a D using the 2016 cuts.

Vicksburg Intermediate and Dana Road each held steady earning a D despite seeing a minimal drop in their respective scores.

The accountability scores are measured using a variety of metrics including proficiency in math, reading, science and U.S. History. The score also includes a measure of overall growth in reading and math and the growth of the lowest 25 percent of students from the year before in reading and math.

“I think we took a step back in the proficiencies at a couple of schools,” Shealy said. “I think our Algebra proficiencies at Vicksburg High School specifically; we really took a lot of point deficits within those. The way that you have to look at a district, history was not wonderful, our history exams scores. The only people who control that are our high schools. You can wonderful things happening below and not pull of things that are block controlled. Those things are harmful.”

High school scores also include metrics measuring college and career readiness, which takes into account ACT scores and the graduation rate.

The VWSD graduation rate for 2017 was 70.7 percent. The graduation rate has seen a massive improvement over the last six years, after falling as low as 55.5 percent in 2011.

Accountability scores are not given for River City Early College and the Academy Innovation as the students attending those scores count in the scores of the school they are zoned to attend.